LEXINGTON — For the second game in a row, Kentucky basketball rallied from a two-point first-half deficit to score a crucial conference win without two normal starts.
On Wednesday, the UK went down 11 with 7:17 in the first half against LSU before rallying for a 71-66 victory. Like Saturday's win over Alabama, Kentucky was playing without the usual starting guards Sahveer Wheeler (arm) and Tyty Washington (leg) due to injuries.
Junior forward Oscar Tshebwe led Kentucky with 16 points in 28 games and 16 rebounds with his 22nd double-double, but it was little-used freshman Bryce Hopkins who rallied from the bench to a career-high 13 points. provided the spark. All Hopkins' points came in the second half. Kentucky trailed by five when they checked in.
Tshibwe and Hopkins were joined in double figures by super senior guards Kellan Grady (13) and Davian Mintz (13).
3 defense in the country, Kentucky scored 48 points in the second half, shooting 60% from the field. Kentucky won the game despite only converting 2 of 12 into 3-point attempts.
After taking a 4 1/2-minute lead in the second half, Kentucky built up their advantage with 15 points. LSU however was able to return to the game with their full-court pressure defence. The Tigers had four with 33.2 seconds, but were unable to hide. Junior forward Keon Brooks then used two free throws to seal the win.
Nevertheless, Kentucky needed two timeouts to inbound the ball for one final time against LSU's press, before Tshebwe converted a 2 to 1 free throw with 3.1 seconds remaining for the final margin.
Kentucky coach John Calipari said, "We did some things to dilute the vibe, but the reality of it is you're 10 or 12 up with a few minutes left." "You know, it's a good win."
Bryce Hopkins makes the most of his moment
Against Alabama on Saturday, Kentucky was able to overcome the absence of Wheeler and Washington by their five starters playing at least 36 minutes each. Against the LSU it quickly became apparent that against a relentless Tigers defense the strategy was unlikely to work again.
Fatigue quickly became an issue, but more importantly, we were unable to avoid a foul early on like they did against Alabama. When Keon Brooks picked up his third foul in just 90 seconds in the second half, Hopkins was given a chance to shine.
He contributed 11 points and two rebounds in the next five minutes. He hit 4 of 5 shots and scored five straight runs for the Wildcats at one point, giving Kentucky a first lead at the start of the game with a put-back layup of 15:34, which went on to play three points.
Hopkins had not scored in the last seven matches before Wednesday. Three times in that stretch he didn't play at all. He had scored just 10 aggregate points in the SEC game before the game.
"I'm very proud of Bryce," said Tshibwe. "He doesn't even know how proud we are of him, we're cheering for him. For him to come out like this tonight, drop some buckets, he really helped us get back in the game."
Facelift, same result for Oscar Tshibwe
Kentucky's National Player of the Year nominee took to the court Wednesday, sporting a white headband for the first time this season. Not that Tshibwe's performance needed a jumpstart, but the headband certainly did the job.
This season marked the seventh time Tshibwe has scored at least 15 points and 15 rebounds in a game. He went on to tie with Dan Eisel for third place for the most double-doubles in a season in the program's history. Like Tshiebwe, Issel needed 28 games to record 22 double-doubles in the 1968–69 season.
Tshibwe needed two more double-doubles to tie Julius Randall in the Calipari era (24), but Randall needed 40 games to record that many. Essel holds the record with 26 double-doubles in 28 games in 1969–70. With 427 rebounds in a year, Tshibwe now recorded the most rebounds of any Kentucky player in the entire season since 1954–55.
As for the headband, Tshibwe said the headband's small size drew some playful jabs from LSU players. He will be looking for a bigger one to wear in the future.
"I wanted to see the headband Oscars," said Tshibwe. "It was really funny, when I wear a headband, all the assistant coaches say to me, 'If the coach sees you missing lap, he'll be like, "You better take that headband off."
"...if they can't find the big one, I'm not going to wear a headband anymore."
Kentucky Still Needs Tyty Washington and Sehwair Wheeler
While the UK has survived tough matchups with Alabama and LSU without their usual starting backcourt, the task gets even tougher on Saturday in Arkansas.
The Razorbacks have won 12 of their last 13 matches, with the only loss at the time being a one-point loss four days after the then-numbers knockout in Alabama. 1 Auburn. Kentucky would not be helped by the Roop Arena crowd, which was important at rallies in Fayetteville against Alabama and LSU.
1 seed in the NCAA Tournament may also be on the line on Saturday. Even with a win the Wildcats will need to take care of the trade against Ole Miss and Florida next week - and avoid early losses in the SEC tournament - but to start again with another statement win. needed. A win on the road against an Arkansas team ranked 19th by KenPom.com and 23rd by NCAA's NET metric would go a long way in meeting that need.
Arkansas will certainly have noticed Kentucky's struggle against LSU's full-court pressure in the final segment of the game on Wednesday. This happens when there is no true point guard on the floor. Kentucky made only three assists against LSU.
"He was very manic," Hopkins said. "With that lineup, it was kind of difficult without Sahveer and Tyty as they are our two primary ball handlers. We had to do some thinking on the fly to get the ball in and finish the game."
To win at Fayetteville, the Wildcats probably need at least one of Wheeler and Washington to be available.